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Game to complete a remarkable two-year turnaround by going public (again)
Two years after it went into administration, UK video game retailer Game could complete a stunning comeback by floating on the London Stock Exchange for a second time. The company, which was forced to close 300 stores, abandon its European expansion and kill the Gamestation brand in 2012, has surged following last year's console launches and is looking to put the worst behind it by selling a 35 percent stake to investors. Led by investment firm OpCapita, the group will rename itself to Game Digital and is expected to hit London's financial markets within the next four weeks. With 560 stores, a 33 percent share of the new game and hardware market in the UK and over 16 million combined Reward Card members, Game is expected to earn a £400 million valuation -- not bad for a company that was all but dead 26 months ago.
Alibaba's massive IPO plans shift the focus from Silicon Valley to China
The recent big tech IPOs of companies like Facebook, Twitter and Tesla could all soon be dwarfed by a company with roots far outside Silicon Valley. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group just filed documents for its own offering (choosing to trade its stock in the US over Hong Kong) and while its value has not been determined, it could result in the biggest IPO ever when it's all said and done. Alibaba built its empire on a number of online sales platforms described as a blend of Amazon, eBay and Paypal, and its reach is starting to include the US, thanks to investments in companies like Lyft.
Candy Crush maker's IPO values company at more than $7 billion
King, the company behind the Candy Crush saga filed its IPO today, but is the maker another Zynga (Farmville), another Rovio (Angry Birds) or something else again? Nearly 100 million users play Candy Crush every day, and while the company's titles remain free to play, it depends on virtual goods, additional levels and content purchases to bring in the cash. Selling shares at $22.50, it's raised around $500 million for the company and its early investors, valuing King at around $7 billion. The company apparently isn't going public because it needed the money, however, but because it will give the company stock it can use to make acquisitions... and let investors cash out if they want to. Shareholders will be pushing the gamesmaker to repeat the success of Candy Crush, something that more recent titles, like Farm Heroes saga, haven't (so far, at least) been able to accomplish.
Candy Crush studio King seeks up to $7.6 billion IPO valuation
Candy Crush Saga makers King Digital Entertainment Plc, says it expects to price its initial public offering at $21-$24 per share, valuing the company at up to $7.6 billion. King, which became notorious within the games industry after trademarking and enforcing use of the common word "Candy," saw its revenue grow to $602 million in Q4 2013 from only $22 in the first quarter of 2012. Though King's portfolio features 180 games for mobile devices, Facebook and through its own site, analysts note that most of the company's growth was directly linked to its Candy Crush games and questioned whether King could maintain its growth rate going forward. "I think the valuation of a P/E ratio of 13 for a high-growth company is indeed reflecting a skepticism about the ability to continue growing at such a rapid pace," professor and IPO expert at the University of Florida Jay Ritter says, according to Reuters. "The ability to come up with future games and get people to pay for the game is a big question mark." Analysts are quick to compare the high valuation to that of social gaming giant Zynga, which has had its stock price sliced in half since its IPO debuted in 2011 at $10 per share. According to Reuters, "of the 22.2 million shares on sale in the offering, the company will sell 15.5 million, while stockholders, including Apax Ventures, will sell 6.7 million shares." King's IPO is set to be priced on March 25 and will now begin trading under the NYSE symbol 'KING' on March 26, after recently delaying the plan to prove its worth. [Image: King Digital Entertainment Plc]
Zynga IPO fraud lawsuit dismissed, plaintiffs plan to amend complaint
A US judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by shareholders against Zynga today. The lawsuit alleged that Zynga purposely misled shareholders about the financial state of the company, its active user count and potential business prospects in the run-up to, and after, Zynga's initial stock offering in late 2011. US District Judge Jeffrey White said the 110-page complaint failed to offer "relevant, basic factual details" worthy of the indictment against Zynga, Reuters reports. White also threw out a complaint filed against Zynga's secondary stock offering in April 2012, citing the plaintiffs in the case had no standing due to the fact none of them had purchased any of that stock. White has given the plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their complaint and re-file. Months after Zynga's initial public offering, the company was hit with an insider trading lawsuit. While all Zynga stock holders were "locked up" and prevented from selling their stock until May 28, 2012 – months after Zynga's IPO in December, 2011 – executives within Zynga's ranks used underwriters to sell their stock at $12 a share. This loophole allowed executives to profit from the stock, which made its debut at $10 a share but quickly fell. Currently, Zynga stock prices hover at $5.29 a share on the NASDAQ. [Image: Zynga]
The folks behind Candy Crush Saga think their company is big enough to go public
Heard of game development studio King? No, right? You're forgiven, as most folks don't know the name of the studio behind one of the world's most popular games right now: Candy Crush Saga. Sure, it might just be Bejeweled with free-to-play mechanisms built in, but over 93 million people played it last month. Yes, really. And with those kinds of numbers, King apparently believes it's large enough to go public -- the company today filed for its initial public offering (IPO) with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Unexciting financial jargon aside, this means that King's hoping to raise a ton of cash (it's unclear how much) by offering stock to prospective investors; The New York Times is saying King "is expected to seek a multibillion-dollar valuation". If all of this sounds awfully familiar, that's because FarmVille-maker Zynga pulled the same move just over two years ago -- the story hasn't been as positive in the following years. Like Zynga, King is largely dependent on a single game for its enormous userbase (the 93 million who played Candy Crush Saga in December are pulled from an overall pool of 128 milllion -- over 70 percent of King's entire consumer base). Of course, only time will tell if King will ascend from one-hit wonder, like the Zynga example, to mega-franchise purveyor, a la Rovio with Angry Birds.
GoPro's IPO isn't about selling cameras, it's about creating a media empire
It was 2001, more than a decade before GoPro would announce its intentions to go public, and its CEO Nick Woodman was facing a very expensive failure. In just two years, he'd lost nearly $4 million of investors' money, building a social gaming startup that never took off. Unfortunately for him, he'd arrived at that particular party a little too early, and by his own admission Funbug (as it was called) was "before its time." With fingers burnt, Woodman decided to get away for a little surfing, and to figure out what he was going to do next. The answer would come during preparations for that trip. He came up with the idea for a waterproof stills camera that he could use to take close-ups of himself and his friends right in the middle of the action. The years that followed would see that humble idea spawn something of an empire.
GoPro files for IPO to become publicly traded company
It's safe to say GoPro's camera business is quite successful -- and there are plenty of things which prove this to be the case. Still, GoPro doesn't want to stop there, so much so that it has now started the process to take its (adventurous) efforts to the next level. The company, which is based out of San Mateo, California, recently announced it has formally filed for IPO, indicating that it will be maturing into a public company pretty soon. We can expect more details once the SEC finishes reviewing all the confidential paperwork -- for now, the official statement from GoPro is right after the break.
Daily Update for December 12, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
33 years ago today, Apple launched its IPO
On December 12, 1980, Apple became a public company when it launched its IPO. Shares were initially priced at US$22, making a number of Apple employees, including a young Steve Jobs, instant millionaires. EDN reports: The shares sold out almost immediately and the IPO generated more capital than any IPO since Ford Motor Company in 1956. Instantly, about 300 millionaires, some 40 of which are Apple employees and investors, are created. That is more millionaires than any company in history had produced at that time. Steve Jobs, the largest shareholder, made $217 million dollars alone. Since then, shares of Apple have seen tremendous highs and lows. Shares of the company slightly eclipsed $700 back in September of 2012, a far cry from the sub-$5 levels the stock was at when Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997. Accounting for stock splits (there have been three in Apple's history), a lone share of Apple stock purchased in 1980 would today be worth $4,502. If one purchased $1,000 worth of Apple shares 33 years ago, that investment today would be worth $204,000. If one purchased $1,000 worth of Apple shares in June of 1997, when shares were trading as low as $3.56 a share, that investment would today be worth $632,000. One final factoid: Today, the biggest tech IPO of all time belongs to Facebook.
Candy Crush dev delays IPO to prove its worth, announces new game
Candy Crush developer King has delayed its stock market launch until next year in order to establish its worth beyond a single standout hit in the social and mobile gaming markets, The Telegraph reports. In a bid to prove that it's not just a one-hit wonder, King announced that it will bring its Facebook hit Farm Heroes Saga to iOS and Android devices in 2014. Boasting match-three gameplay in the same vein as King's Candy Crush Saga, Farm Heroes Saga will sync save data with Facebook, allowing players to resume their progress and unlock new levels on any supported platform. Rival social game publisher Zynga began public trading on Nasdaq in 2011, but faltered when it failed to follow up on the success of its Farmville games. Rovio faced similar concerns with its Angry Birds series, announcing recently that it has no plans for an initial public offering.
Twitter stock value nearly doubles post-IPO, puts a lot of worth into little tweets
Twitter must have taken a few lessons from Facebook on how to launch its IPO this morning. TWTR's value on the New York Stock Exchange has nearly doubled as of this writing, jumping from the initial $26 price to $46 -- two bucks shy of its social networking rival. The day is still young, so early investors won't want to plan their retirement funds just yet. However, the rush is good news for a company that's constantly searching for new sources of revenue, especially when there may be patent royalty payments in its future. [Image credit: David Weller, Twitter]
Twitter's updated IPO plans reveal TWTR stock on NYSE, 232 million active users
Twitter isn't a public company just yet, but its updated S-1 filing hit today and showed how it's grown in the last three months. While it showed 218 million monthly active users by the end of June, its Q3 stats have grown to 232 million (53 million of them are in the US). While the number of users accessing the service from mobile devices grew slightly from 75 to 76 percent, ad revenue on mobile grew 37 percent since the last report, compared to other revenue which was up 9 percent. It's making more money too, with revenue for the quarter of $168.6 million, up from $139 million in Q2 and $82 million for the same period last year. If you want to invest in the right stock at its IPO, look for TWTR on the NYSE -- until then prospective investors can dig through the financial data here and follow the @TwitterIR account for updates.
Daily Roundup: ZTE Open review, Twitter's $1 billion IPO, Samsung spies on Apple / Nokia documents and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Twitter makes $1 billion IPO filing public, confirms over 215 million monthly active users
Less than a month after announcing its plans for an IPO, Twitter has today made its S-1 filing with the SEC public, offering the most detailed look yet at at the inner workings of the company. With the IPO, Twitter is looking to raise $1 billion on 472,613,753 shares of common stock, trading under the stock symbol TWTR. In the filing, the company also confirmed that it now has 218.3 million monthly active users (or MAUs) according to its most recent numbers, and that it pulled in $253.6 million in revenue for the six months ending June 30th, 2013, an increase of 107 percent from a year earlier. According to the company, mobile users unsurprisingly account for a particularly big chunk of its business, with 75 percent of its average MAUs accessing Twitter from a mobile device in the three months ending June 30, 2013, and mobile use accounting for 65 percent of its advertising revenue. It still isn't making a profit, though, with the company seeing a net loss of $69.3 million for the aforementioned six month period. That's compared to $316.9 million in revenue for all of 2012, and a net loss of $79.4 million. Of those 215 million MAUs, 49.2 million are in the United States, while 169.1 million are international, representing an increase of 35% and 47%, respectively, from the same period a year ago. Beyond those numbers, the company has also revealed the number of Timeline views for the first time; they stood at 150.9 billion for the three months ending June 30th, and 287.2 billion for six months prior (up 69% and 79% from a year earlier). On average, that translates to 691 timeline views per MAU for the same three month period, although that number jumps a fair bit looking just at US Twitter users -- they rack up 825 timeline views on average. In a brief letter to shareholders included in the filing, the company says "Twitter represents a service shaped by the people, for the people," and that "the mission we serve as Twitter, Inc. is to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly without barriers," adding, "our business and revenue will always follow that mission in ways that improve–and do not detract from–a free and global conversation." Those interested in digging into all of the numbers can find the full filing on the SEC's website.
Daily Roundup: HP Haswell Chromebook hands-on, Dell going private, Samsung's 64-bit CPUs, and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Twitter submits plans for IPO: 140 characters of going public
Honestly, it shouldn't come as any shock: the microblogging service that made it perfectly acceptable to deliver huge, huge news in 140 characters or less has just done precisely that. Twitter has announced that it has "confidentially submitted an S-1 to the SEC for a planned IPO," but details beyond that are being kept under wraps. What's it mean? Those with equity in the company are about to become mind-numbingly rich; Wall Street is about to lose its gourd about getting in early; and end-users like yourself should start worrying about ads, ads everywhere.
Elite: Dangerous studio Frontier Developments set to go public
Frontier Developments, known around these parts as the studio behind crowdfunding success story Elite: Dangerous, is about to enter a different brave new world: that of the London Stock Exchange. The company is set to launch its IPO on July 15th with around £4 million ($5.9 million) in shares. Elite: Dangerous's Kickstarter campaign raised £1.6 million and Frontier snagged an additional £2.8 in provate funding. The studio has about £7.2 million in the bank. A statement from founder and studio head David Braben accompanied the announcement, outlining his excitement to list Frontier at "a time of such strong momentum in the business and the sector." He also noted that the IPO "gives us the necessary financial impetus to continue operating at the forefront of the continually evolving and expanding global games market."
Report: Microsoft considering major company changes
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is planning major changes within company management, AllThingsD reports. The changes would focus on making Microsoft a "devices and services" company, a focus Ballmer outlined in his shareholder letter in October. "This is a significant shift, both in what we do and how we see ourselves - as a devices and services company," Ballmer wrote. "It impacts how we run the company, how we develop new experiences, and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses." This restructuring could impact Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment (Xbox) division, giving President Don Mattrick a larger role, the report says. Other top executives may see expanded responsibilities, including Satya Nadella, president of Microsoft's Servers and Tools division, and Tony Bates, president of the Skype communications division. Last week, Nomura Equity Research analyst Rich Sherlund suggested Microsoft sell off its Xbox and Bing divisions, noting that shareholders may demand more influence in the company as they seek larger returns on their investments. Sony, Microsoft's major console competitor, is currently considering an IPO of its entertainment division, following a proposition from Third Point LLC's Daniel Loeb.
Sony hires Morgan Stanley, Citigroup to consider entertainment IPO
Sony has brought in major financial help from Morgan Stanley and Citigroup as it considers billionaire Daniel Loeb's proposition that it breaks off and sells its entertainment division, Bloomberg reports. Loeb, who owns a 6 percent stake in Sony stock worth $1.1 billion, wants Sony to sell as much as 20 percent of its entertainment business. Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai previously said the board would consider Loeb's offer. Loeb, with Third Point LLC, sent a letter to Sony on May 14 arguing an entertainment IPO would allow Sony to focus on its electronics arm, which has seen nine consecutive annual losses.
